Colorado Association of School Boards resolutions raise red flags

Caliche ag teacher shares his experience at regional conference

The RE-1 Valley Board of Education, at a workshop Monday, shared their thoughts on several resolutions that will be voted on at the Colorado Association of School Board's Delegate Assembly later this month.

There are a total of 19 resolutions that CASB delegates, including RE-1's board president BJ Ball, will vote on during the delegate assembly Oct. 15, in Fort Collins. The resolutions were submitted by various school boards around the state, as well as CASB's Legislative Resolutions Committee.

Superintendent Dr. Jan DeLay said she agrees with most of the resolutions. However, one she is not in favor of was submitted by the Durango School Board and calls on CASB to urge the adoption of a new School Finance Act that eliminates the opportunity gap for students in low-wealth districts and addresses the lack of equity in the current system. The resolution states that to significantly reduce the academic achievement gap, school districts need funding for poor students equal to two or two-and-a-half times the costs of educating non-poor students.

"The reason I have a big caution on that is they're not saying that we need to make the pie bigger, they're just saying we need to cut it up differently and I think this is going to cause a lot of animosity with school districts. I just don't think we need to be doing anything now that divides us right now," she told the board.

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Myra Westfall was also against this resolution, "I'm not sure that's the solution that would solve some of our funding problems," she said.

Westfall also wasn't sure about a resolution submitted by Poudre School District's School Board asking CASB to support moving the Hospital Provider Fee from the state's general fund into an enterprise fund. She said while it might be a way to get more money into the budget, it's politically divisive.

Additionally, DeLay told the board she is strongly against a resolution submitted Woodlin R-104 School District's School Board urging the elimination of PARCC tests for school/district accreditation and student assessment and recognizing the authority of local school boards to use existing tests that are significantly less costly in time and money.

"I don't believe that it's a meaningless assessment. We find lots of meaning in it," she said. "They give good information, it's a much better assessment than what we used to have and the results will be timely next year, this year they weren't because they were creating new cut scores, that's what you have to do with a new assessment. Next year we will be getting those results in the spring."

Westfall also expressed concerns about the resolution.

"We're moving forward with an assessment that seems to be more meaningful than the previous ones and if you throw that out...," she said. Westfall noted there is some concern with other assessments, commercial assessments that districts are using. Even though districts get results from those quickly, they may not be the answer.

She also had a concern about the part of the resolution that calls for assessments for secondary students to be given as end-of-course exams rather than by grade level and for no assessments to be mandated for 12th grade students.

Westfall said overall the resolution has "lots of holes."

One of the resolutions that DeLay does like was submitted by the Legislative Resolutions Committee and calls for CASB to support legislation to address case-law decisions that have held school districts liable for payment of contracts that employees have not fulfilled and to reinstate the authority of local boards to establish the terms of employment. The resolution states that statute should permit including a liquidated-damages provision of a specific amount (e.g. $1,500) that a teacher must pay if they terminate their contract without sufficient notice to the district.

"I think that it would mean that if we had a teacher that breaks a contract there are some ramifications; that it's not just the school district that has to uphold the contract," she said.

In other business, Todd Thomas, ag teacher at Caliche High School, spoke about the National Association of Ag Educators conference he attended over the summer. Thomas was elected into a leadership position in the state ag educator's association and as part of the leadership team was able to attend the region II conference, as well as a national conference.

"It's really, really been a learning experience for me and a really great opportunity to take information back to the classroom," he said.

One of the experiences with the NAEE that really sticks in his mind was touring an indoor feedlot outside of Manhattan, Kan. It was an operator who has a traditional feedlot and he and his son decided to try an indoor version of it. It has been so successful, they're thinking of opening another one.

"It was just amazing what they could do, because they could control the environment," Thomas said.

This summer, he got to tour Texas A&M University campus and ag department, where he learned about the school's emergency vet hospital which was used during flooding; the A&M Beef Cattle Center; a producers co-op; a family owned vineyard; a family owned pecan farm; and the George Bush Library.

"Being able to travel and being part of that leadership team and seeing how ag departments perform their duties, there's a lot of similarities," Thomas said. "There's some really neat networking opportunities too, that I've been able to take advantage of and able to share that with other ag teachers in our state, as well as share that with kids that we have at Caliche and other kids that we have too. It's been a real neat opportunity for me and I'll continue to try and do it and learn more every time I go."

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